Turnout: 80.78%
About this election
Iceland's presidential election of 1 June 2024 was one of the most crowded and unpredictable in the republic's history, contested by twelve candidates. The businesswoman and former investor Halla Tómasdóttir won with 34.15% after a remarkable late surge, overtaking the long-time front-runner, former prime minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir, who took 25.19%. The energy scholar Halla Hrund Logadóttir (15.68%), the comedian and former Reykjavík mayor Jón Gnarr (10.09%), the academic Baldur Þórhallsson (8.41%) and the lawyer Arnar Þór Jónsson (5.08%) followed. Halla Tómasdóttir became Iceland's second female president, taking office on 1 August 2024. Turnout was 80.78%.
The president is a directly elected, largely ceremonial head of state chosen by nationwide plurality in a single round. Candidates must be citizens aged at least 35 and qualify through endorsement signatures. With no run-off, a large field can produce a winner on a relatively modest share of the vote — as in 2024, when Halla Tómasdóttir prevailed with just over a third. The office holds symbolic authority and the constitutional reserve power to send laws to referendum.
Incumbent Guðni Th. Jóhannesson announced in January 2024 that he would not seek a third term, throwing the contest wide open. Katrín Jakobsdóttir's decision to resign as prime minister in April to enter the race was the campaign's pivotal moment: it dominated the early coverage but also drew criticism, as some voters associated her with the outgoing government. Halla Tómasdóttir, runner-up in 2016, ran a positive, unifying campaign and rose steadily in the final weeks to snatch victory.
Halla Tómasdóttir's win, eight years after her breakthrough second place, capped an extraordinary comeback and made her only the second woman to hold the office after Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, the world's first democratically elected female head of state (1980). Katrín Jakobsdóttir's defeat underlined the risk politicians run in seeking the non-partisan presidency directly from party office.
Turnout of 80.78% was notably high for a presidential contest — above the 2016 figure — reflecting the unusually competitive field and the prominence of the candidates.
The election handed the presidency to a figure from outside party politics at a moment of significant change, months before the 2024 snap parliamentary election reshaped the government and put Iceland's relationship with the European Union back on the national agenda.
The twelve-strong field was one of the most prominent in Icelandic history. Alongside the winner, Halla Tómasdóttir, and the former prime minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir, it included Halla Hrund Logadóttir, a young energy expert and academic who briefly led some polls; Jón Gnarr, the comedian who had famously served as mayor of Reykjavík; the political scientist Baldur Þórhallsson, who would have been the country's first openly gay president; and the conservative lawyer Arnar Þór Jónsson. The crowded ballot split the vote so finely that just over a third was enough to win outright.
The presidency occupies a distinctive place in Icelandic public life: a non-partisan, directly elected head of state expected to embody national unity while retaining the constitutional reserve power to refer laws to referendum. Katrín Jakobsdóttir's move from the premiership straight into the presidential race tested the convention that the office stands above politics, and her defeat suggested that many voters preferred a candidate untainted by recent government. Halla Tómasdóttir's victory, eight years after her breakthrough second place, installed a business figure with a message of dialogue and reconciliation at Bessastaðir at a moment of political flux.
Figures from Statistics Iceland (Hagstofa Íslands) and the National Electoral Commission (landskjörstjórn). The president is elected on a single nationwide count, so no official constituency breakdown is published.
Businesswoman Halla Tómasdóttir won with 34.1% after a late surge, overtaking front-runner and former prime minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir (25.2%). She became Iceland's second female president and took office on 1 August 2024.
Twelve candidates contested the election, one of the largest fields in the republic's history, after incumbent Guðni Th. Jóhannesson chose not to seek a third term.
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, elected in 1980, was the world's first democratically elected female head of state. Halla Tómasdóttir, elected in 2024, is the second woman to hold the office.
Compiled and reviewed by Bartłomiej Paruzel, Election Data Analyst, from official results. See our data methodology.